No comments about Thomas Varker Keam, Indian Trader.

1 comments about American Indian Ballerinas.

1. This book gives a very nice over-view of the four American Indian Ballerinas, tracing their careers and rise to stardom in a parallel fashion. You get a sense of where each dancer was in her training and her performance years with respect for the others. The easy going style paints a clear and accurate picture that dancers and non-dancers alike can enjoy.

No comments about Sundance the Robert Sundance Story.

1 comments about Leaving Everything Behind: The Songs and Memories of a Cheyenne Woman (American Indian Stories).

1. Very useful and honest book. The story of a ordinary old Cheyenne woman, good singer, good beadworker, good grandmother, and good human being. The reader can learn about the contemporary life of the Cheyenne people even surviving traditions. The score of the Cheyenne songs and the follow-up CD make this book still more valuable.

3 comments about Etok: A Story of Eskimo Power.

1. I was a childhood friend of Charlie. We called him "Etook," not "Etok," if the spelling is any indication of pronunciation. It's a curious difference that makes me wonder about the real depth of the author in penetrating this man's story, but it's certainly accurate in respect to the living conditions and culture I knew as a young white boy, the son of a missionary, living in the village of Barrow.



2. Etok is my uncle. I knew it had a lot about Alaska Native land claims, but it was so much more. I learned more about my own family, more about Inupiaq culture, and of course, more about Native rights and the political resurgence of Alaska Natives. It was a really good book! I couldn't put it down.
   
   I recommend it to anyone who's interested in Native Land Claims, or Native rights in general.



3. The author has captured the man who is Etok and at the same time given us a look into politics in early Alaska statehood. Etok's intensity of feelings for his people and his land was powerful and unharnessed. This is demonstrated well here. Also, we get a look into both congressional and presidential politics of this era. This book is more than about this one man.

5 comments about The Journey of Crazy Horse.

1. To Joseph Marshall, thank you. You have shared much with us. I am a white of the Dakota plains. I'm glad that some like yourself understand and perhaps your book will help others. Maybe someday another special bow will be given to the people. I hope. Hoka Hey.
   
   And pardon this note. But if some whites say Crazy Horse must have been part white, meaning to explain away his military genius, then I guess Custer must have been part Indian to explain his stupidity. And his terrible cruelty.



2. 
   The murder of Crazy Horse occurred one hundred and twenty-five years ago. The story of his death has been become a legend in the Lakota tribe. Our author tells the story of Crazy Horse and his work to have a fair peace with the United States. This is a sad part of our history. Our forefathers took what they wanted and on their terms. There have been some efforts where later generations have tried to compensate but most of the benefits have been eaten up in our bureaucracy. I don't have an answer and we cannot correct the past. This was a very well written and interesting book. By Ruth Thompson author or "The Bluegrass Dream" and "Natchez Above The River"
   
   Writing as a Small BusinessQualifying Laps: A Brewster County NovelsSins of the Fathers: A Brewster County NoveltTravelersTravelersThe Bluegrass Dream: A Wilderness Adventure of Early SettlersNatchez Above The River: A Family's Survival In The Civil War



3. This is a wonderful offering from my favorite Lakota author, Joseph M. Marshall, III. I also purchased the audio book, and would recommend that as the best way to "read' this book. It is read by the author, and the reader can hear the actual sounds of the language, the way it was meant to be presented.
   
   My favorite of all his books, so far!



4. As a history instructor at a junior college, I highly commend Mr. Marshall for his first class work on the esteemed Crazy Horse. Based on the centuries-old tradition of oral history that is passed down from one generation to the next, Marshall relies on the many traditions of his youth and adulthood.
   
   He has created a work that goes far beyond the idolization of heroes of the past. He presents Crazy Horse as the magnificent leader of his day but the author also tells of a mortal human being with strengths and weaknesses, as all leaders have been throughout history.
   
   Marshall takes us to a time and place in our minds that is both vivid and revealing. The author has written a masterpiece, providing maps and an index explaining the various names given by the Lakota of the months and how they coincide with the Eurocentric definition of the calendar year. This was most helpful.
   
   Marshall closes his book with a very moving story that I hope is not lost on American Indian readers of his book. The insights of his last chapter are so needed today.
   
   "The Journey of Crazy Horse is the fourth book by Marshall that I have read and his works are gems. I highly recommend any and all of Marshall's books and I plan to continue reading his entire collection of works. He is a superb writer and captures the reader. He was also featured in the film productions "How the West was Lost" and the PBS special "The Native Americans."
   
   Mr. Marshall, never put that pen down!



5. This book is too lacking in the analysis of Crazy Horse's political and military strategy, it lacks references (its prime source is Indian word-of-mouth) and it is too much an hagiography. Nevertheless a decent introduction to the man and, much more importantly, his predicament.

1 comments about Nampeyo and Her Pottery.

1. Barbara Kramer writes a much needed biography of Nampeyo, the Tewa potter. This book is a comprehensive look at Nampeyo's life, as both a member of the Hopi/Tewa nation, and as a seminal artist. Kramer also succesfully challenges much of the conventional wisdom surrounding Nampeyo's life and work, some of which has persisted for almost a century.

   While setting the context in which Nampeyo lived and worked, Kramer also draws a vivid picture of life in the Hopi/Tewa villages at the close of the 19th Century. Beset by archeologists, ethnographers, and missionaries, the Hopis attempted to maintain a way of life and culture that had sustained them for generations.

   Kramer writes in a clear, accessible style, and makes liberal use of quotes and other references from Nampeyo's extended family. For anyone interested in the history and development of 20th Century Hopi pottery, this book is a must read.

5 comments about From the Ganges to the Snake River: A East Indian in the American West.

1. From The Ganges To The Snake River: An East Indian In The American West is an engaging, thought-provoking collection of essays written over a period of twenty years in which Debu Majumdar (who was born and raised on the banks of India's Ganges River) wrote while living in Idaho Falls, Idaho during the 1980s and 1990s. The essays cover everything from Mormon missionaries and Native Americas to fishing and horses. Highly recommended and totally engaging, these cultural essays include: First Idaho Winter; Idaho Trout; Fourth of July; Tiger Hunt; Hunting; Mountain River Ranch; The Missionaries; Be Crazy About; An Excursion on the River; Pollywog Pond; The Poets' Club; A Place to Hang Your Hats; Oh Calcutta; At the Windcave; The Ramayana; and Indians Across the Ocean



2. Debu's journey brings together many opposites: east and west, thoughts of adults on the young, old country -- new country, Hinduism -- Christianity, tradition and modernity. His odyssey takes him from an ancient land to a new one; sacred rivers flow through each, he creates himself anew as he moves between cultures. It is a voyage of discovery, but not just of places and environments and new friends and colleagues; there is an inner voyage that takes place too. In this kind of journey -- which takes place over decades, on several continents -- although most of these stories are set in Idaho in the last 20 years -- there is ample room for reflection, and doubt and crises of identity. Do I belong to one culture? Or another? Or does that question even have meaning any more? Not least of the gifts of this book is that as Debu ponders the changes that have come about in himself, among his fellow Indians who have come to the United States, and in everyone who has come to the American West, he sees himself in new ways, and we see ourselves in a new light too. That is a valuable gift.



3. Idaho and Calcutta. Himalayas and Tetron. Indians and Americans. Ganges and Snake river. All comes for a fascinating contiguity in all 16 episode composed by Debu Mojumder, an Indian from Calcutta transformed to American in Idaho Falls. He tales this story of transformation through different characters and creeds busy to establish their own identity. Along with the characters the nature, surrounding with all its content living or non living reacts in harmony. All are foreigner at some point. Episodes that can be shared by all in the global village.



4. I thoroughly enjoyed reading the book. The author is an excellent observer of nature, and Idaho seems to be a beautiful part of the country with rivers and mountains and no pressures of population. The stories, which are autobiographical reminiscences, anecdotes, and thoughtful observations, are written in a frank, uncomplicated style and make a pleasant reading. Residents of Idaho would certainly enjoy them more for the local colour, but for those who don't know Idaho, the book might provide an incentive to visit the Snake River area.

   Description of life in Calcutta, wonderfully depicting the sights, sounds and smells of the region, and some personal histories I found enjoyable, in particular the stories Oh, Calcutta, The Ramayana, and At the Windcave. In the last story, the author beautifully brings out the frustrations of an ambitious research scientist and compares his life with that of a relaxed scientific worker with interests outside the narrow limits of his speciality.

   In one story, the author expresses himself on the topic of foreignness and feeling like an outsider. In these days of globalization, he suggests that a new educated class has emerged in the world, which has gone beyond regional boundaries and finds more commonality among themselves than among close neighbours. It is not the land that makes one feel foreign. It's not a place but something within oneself, an inborn thing.

   The book is a real praise of Idaho and the reader can get easily absorbed. Those who don't know Idaho will also find something that they will appreciate and enjoy as I did.




5. The observations Debu Majumdar gleaned from uncannily remembered impressions of the past half century are truly original. I loved the story about the shopping expedition for a necklace in Calcutta, and the difference between savoring/planning/extending the essence of an excursion versus the haphazard, coma-like way we cruise through malls here in the U.S.

   Majumdar's inner journeys and outer experiences in Idaho and Calcutta bring the reader to the heart of his reminiscences, and to the essence of their meaning.

   When I first moved to Idaho from New York City, I had such a sweeping feeling of both loneliness and homesickness; Majumdar's essays capture all those irreconcilable feelings about never truly being a part of life in a new land and missing the life one had elsewhere. He seamlessly describes the transition from outsider to becoming part of one's adopted community, and knowing when it has become home. It is a fine book, and reminds one to savor the indelible adventures of life in Idaho."

   - Julianne Eberl, member Pierre Monteux Memorial Foundation, Maine, and National Advisory Council, Sun Valley Summer Symphony.

2 comments about Bloodlines: Odyssey of a Native Daughter.

1. Hale vividly describes her immediate family, their families and her childhood in this deeply moving book. My heart ached for her as a child and young woman trying to make sense of a hostile world. The book is a testament to human resiliency. -- I am not Native American, but I too grew up with a strong tradition of family and connection to the land. My family was also dysfunctional. Like the author, I too have turned to writing to try and make sense and order and draw meaning from my life and pain. Relating to her as I did, this was not an easy book to read. Yet it had remained on my shelf of favorite books for several years.-- Another reviewer criticized her use of Native American stereotypes of drunk, violent, lazy Indians. I don't recall any lazy Indians in the book. The drunkeness and violence had deeply affected Hale's mother, perhaps in part explaining her cruelty to her youngest daughter. The story would have been a lie had that part not been told. Instead of reinforcing a stereotype, Hale made the human pain which results from such behavior very real and personal. She tells the story passionately enough that I felt sympathy for her parents, even as she did. This book inspired me as a writer and it impressed upon me the need to understand and the will to live and thrive which seem to be part and parcel of the human condition.



2. I had this book in my collection for sometime before getting to it. I'm glad I finally did. There are many acclaimed and favorite PNW so-called "native" son writers such as Doig, Holbrook, Morgan, Kittredge, etc that combine well storytelling and folklore with personal or others' memoirs with description of the PNW with historical events. Unfortunately, there are only a few true "native" (PNW Native Americans) son & daughter writers. Janet Campbell Hale clearly belongs in this company. The contrast of her work with Sherman Alexie's is quite stark. (She's Couer D'Alene, he's Spokane Indian). Personally, I find Alexie's work too dark and does some significant injustice to Native Americans by perpetuating stereotypes of drunken, violent, lazy, etc Indians. I believe such talent should be put to more edifying uses - a force for good and change. However, Janet Hale doesnt ignore or gloss over the conditions on the Rez, but brings you in to the story rather than disturb you like some of Alexie's stories. Her connection "bloodline" with a very important figure in PNW history, John McLoughlin, is well done as well as the short bit with Chief Joseph's flight. The story throughout the book is a fluid connection with her family's past, her childhood, and her current "role" in life - a woman, an Indian, a writer. I believe this type of work is invaluable in contributing to our society, especially as pertains to Native Americans. I havent ever read her Pulitzer nominated "Jailing of Cecelia Capture", but plan to do so quickly, as well as her other works.

4 comments about While the Locust Slept (Native Voices).

1. This is a chilling, true-life account of a childhood that should have never been, and 17 years of life that would forever haunt the author, Peter Razor. Peter, an intelligent boy that was raised in an orphanage as a ward of the state, then placed in an abusive indentured farm home had a childhood that is reprehensible, and sadly true. Supposedly protected by the state, Peter became a boy who flinched from physical contact, and had no understanding of what a normal happy home should be like. Unlike Peter Razor, not all children were lucky enough to survive the abuse that could be found in state orphanages when Peter was growing up. Corporal punishment went unchecked, and Peter, an American Indian, also had the added disadvantage of prejudice thrown in. Eventually placed on a farm, his placement was not carefully monitored, and the abusive treatment with this family was never noted by the social worker who was suppose to be monitoring Peter's placement. While the Locust Slept, a Minnesota Book Award Winner, is a compelling, well written tale that reads like a novel, yet is sadly a true tale of a horrific childhood that was unchecked by the state that was suppose to be protecting him



2. I had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Razor while on a trip to Cochiti Lake, New Mexico. After talking for a while he passed me a copy of his book and asked me to read it and then share it with others. I read the book cover-to-cover on the trip home and was amazed that the man I had talked to had once been the little boy in the book. Mr. Razor was a kind and gentle man that never revealed the scars from his childhood in any part of our conversations. America's inhumane treatment of the Indian people is well documented. This book offers graphic descriptions of individual cruelty that was fueled by ignorance and prejudice. I don't know if many human beings could have endured this sort of trauma and survived to be so kind. Peter is a truly incredible person and I would recommend his book to anyone.



3. Like Peter I lived and went through total hell from a matron while I was in the same orphanage. After reading Peters book while the locust slept,I relived the same anger, as Peter indured.This book should be a must read by anyone,who plans on going into the socialwork field and know that this is truly a non fiction tragedy which happened.This is a story that took place a long time ago,but could still and does happen today.



4. My father as well was in the Owatonna "orphanage" which he termed as an "intournment camp/prison"! Babies and children were treated more tragically at this place than you could even imagine. Babies died for lack of "touch" and nurturing! Children were beaten, mauled, and oftentimes died as a result of such treatment. Peter Razor cites an insightfully true story of just SOME of the horific experiences of babies and children in this most insightful book on our country's past (AND EVEN PRESENT) ways of "Social Services" treating our "lost" children!! A MUST TO READ!